This is one of my fave chappies! Max rants, there is a special surprise concerning Fang, and an evil wolf-dude gets his butt kicked.
Disclaimer: Please...believe me...I'm telling the truth!!! I don't own any of it!!!
Chapter 21: Survival is the Most Difficult Task
I roused later on. I didn't know how much time had passed since I had been kicked in the head, how long it had been since I'd seen Fang's face in the broken window. I moved my hand to my side, trying to take in my surroundings.
To my horror, I felt a soft bed underneath me. No no no no no! I was back in the dream! This couldn't be right! I snapped my eyes open. I had been mulling over that last picture I had of Fang. I gazed at the ceiling. It wasn't right. My eyes traveled over to the wall, which were not joyous and lilac, but dark and grimy. Maybe they had put me in a nightmare to punish me. I wished I could go back to that last vision of Fang. I sat up. Though that last vision had been angry and concerned, it was much better than the sight of him I saw when I woke up.
He was pinned against the wall by Ari's forearm, six inches in the air. In the arm Ari wasn't using to pin up Fang hung at his side, loosely fingering a gun. I gasped. Fang's dark eyes glanced at me, and Ari followed his gaze.
"Ah, the Princess is awake," he said. Ugh. What a creep. He turned to me, tightened his hold on his gun and let Fang slide to the ground, sputtering for breath. What is the world coming to, letting 7-year olds tote guns?
"Yes; and the Princess would like to know where on earth she is and why in the world you are here with her," I replied. Unfortunately, this was no dream. It was all real. All horribly real.
Ari laughed a cold, menacing, wolf-man laugh. "Someplace where you're not going to escape."
"I've escaped you several times before, Ari. What makes you think that I won't be able to this time?"
"Because soon you won't have your Prince Charming to save you." Ari cocked the gun and aimed it at Fang. I let out an involuntary gasp. Ari laughed again. Fang tensed against the wall. Anyone who didn't know him wouldn't have seen it. Luckily, Ari didn't, so he wasn't able to feed off of Fang's fear.
"Let...him...go," I said tersely. I clenched at my sides. The only thing that kept me from kicking his guts out right then and there was, of course, the gun in his hand, which could turn on me in the blink of an eye.
"No," Ari said. "Because if I let him go, he'll just come back and rescue you. I've had enough of that. You're not getting away, this time, Maximum. I'll be sure of it." And he pulled the trigger.
I screamed and covered my eyes, turning away in horror. Ari cackled. I shrieked in fury and whipped back around to attack him. But I couldn't. He had already left the room, locking the door behind him. My eyes shot to Fang, whose head was slumped on his shoulder. I feared the worst.
I ran over to him and kneeled in front of him and ripped a hole the size of my fist in his shirt where I saw blood coming from. The bullet had hit him in the top corner of his chest cavity. Blood was seeping out consistently. I ripped the sleeve off my t-shirt and desperately tried to halt the flow. It was no use. Blood just soaked through the thin strip and in between my fingers. I changed position over to his left side, and checked the pulse in his neck.
It was there! But it was incredibly faint and fading quickly. I knew I couldn't save him now. I slumped over onto is ropy shoulder, sobbing my heart out. I was losing him. Fang! The only one I've ever loved! Hang on, did I just say loved? Yes, I did, and it was the truth.
How I longed to hear him saying my name again, to feel his hard, secure arm wrapping around me. Telling me it was alright when it wasn't. For a moment, I thought I actually did hear him saying my name. It was barely audible. I knew I was imagining it. Then I imagined that I felt his arm coming up to mine. The memories kept me sobbing. Then I heard my name again. I couldn't be imagining it! I looked up, and to my surprise, I saw his beautiful dark eyes looking back at me.
My heart dropped down to my knees. This isn't happening. Is it? His other hand moved up to my hair and stroked it. I heard him shushing me, telling me it was alright. Was it actually alright this time? I couldn't be imagining all of this. Unless I was going insane. Which was very likely. I whispered it to myself, telling myself out loud that I was going nuts.
"No, Max, you're not insane. I'm here. It's going to be okay."
I definitely wasn't imagining that.
"Fang!" I shouted, whispering. Does that sound odd to you? You would have done it in my position, believe me. If your true love had come back to life but you were scared that a mutant wolf-dude would come in and kill you, trust me, you would.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and took a deep breath, my breath still shuddering from crying. He turned his head and kissed my forehead. Oh, Fang was alive! Now I knew that we would be fine. I untangled myself from him and positioned myself to his front. He had been shot in the chest cavity. How could he have survived? I opened the hole that was already there and checked his skin.
There wasn't even a scratch. Besides the stain in his shirt, there wasn't even any blood.
"Fang, how did you...?"
He shrugged. "It must be a new power. I've never been able to do it until now."
I smiled. "Welcome to the club. Now we can all do something!" He smirked and relaxed for a minute. He explained that he may have healed, but he still hurt like h-e-double toothpicks. I sat back a moment to let him recover.
Then I heard tramping elsewhere in the house. Ari. I had forgotten. Only for a moment in my joy had I forgotten. I whispered to Fang my plan. Basically, he had to play dead until I had done what I needed to do.
The tramping feet approached my door. I heard jangling keys and at the last minute I threw myself on my bed, burying my face in the pillow. I pretended to sob, but really, I was chuckling to myself. Ari wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
"Max?" he asked. I continued "sobbing."
He approached me and dared to touch my back to see if I was alright. (Now, before I continue, I need to rant. How could he possibly think I'd be alright? He's tried to kill me on several occasions, almost killed Fang three times now, right in front of me, and imprisoned me in some unknown place. How dumb can he be? Pretty dumb, I guess. Alright, I'm done.)
At the touch I whipped around, grasped his hand and kicked him in the gut, pulling him into the kick. He doubled over, coughing. I continued to throw a hook kick at his head. I motioned to Fang, who came around behind him and trapped him in a headlock. Fang pulled Ari up, one arm around his neck, and one tightly grasping his hair.
Ari sputtered when he saw Fang, "But you were dead!" I kicked him again. He huffed.
"Now, I really don't want to kill you again, but if you don't show us the way out of here, I guess I'll just have to," I said. "But maybe I won't. How do you expect me to kill my own brother?"
He glanced at me, horrified.
"Uh-huh," I said, milking the moment. "That woman in the hall was my mom. She was married to Jeb. Jeb is your father. So whether we're half-siblings or what, I don't know. But it's such a vicious circle, isn't it?" I chuckled.
Ari growled. Fang yanked at his hair and he whimpered. He didn't say anything but, "This way." He motioned his head toward the door. Fang led him out. The outside of the room was another room, which looked like a den/kitchen. To our left was a small hallway with nothing but a bathroom and another bedroom, which I guessed to be Ari's. Straight ahead was the door.
We approached it, and as we opened it, Fang chopped Ari in the temple, and he collapsed, unconscious. Fang and I took off running. Once we were a good distance from wherever we were, we stopped to catch our breath. I laughed with the joy of freedom and Fang smiled. I glanced at him, and then we were embraced, kissing. We had been so near to permanent separation, all we wanted right now was each other's company. A few minutes later we took off flying. It had been so long, but soon we had adjusted, and we were off. Off to find the flock.